


Through Beginnings and Ends

by loogerkresnik



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Awkwardness, Comedy, Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5631757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loogerkresnik/pseuds/loogerkresnik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junpei reflects on the past in order to understand and move on towards his future. Question is, will his future already be moving on without him? Why does his future have to be such a dumbass, anyway?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Steps

**Author's Note:**

> dude akijun is such a great ship it needs more stuff

Where did it all start? The more he pondered that question, the stupider it seemed. It started at the beginning, of course.

* * *

**2008**

* * *

 

There he was. The most popular guy in school, captain of the boxing team, adored by all for his spirit and dashing good looks. A walking cliché, really. The kind of guy losers like Junpei Iori could only wish they were. The legend of second-year student Akihiko Sanada was already widespread by the time Junpei entered Gekkoukan High School. Athletic, rich, fashionable, handsome. To top it all off, he was best buddies with Mitsuru Kirijo, who practically ran the place. Probably because she kind of owned it. She wasn't any less popular than Akihiko, but she was cold and intimidating whereas Akihiko was warm and encouraging. They seemed like total opposites, but together they had a brilliant but unapproachable aura.

In short, associating with either Akihiko Sanada or Mitsuru Kirijo was nowhere on Junpei's list of priorities. Not like he could even if he wanted to. Their rabid leagues of fans would have his head.

Still, he couldn't help but take special note of Akihiko. Was it his natural charisma that earned him his legions of adoring fans, or something else. Whatever it was, Junpei didn't really understand it.

Not that it really mattered. As far as he was concerned, it'd be best to stay far away from the popular crowd. All he needed to do was get through these next three years and he could move on with his life. He wouldn't say no to getting a girlfriend, but it wasn't like he was actually putting in any effort to. His high school life so far had been completely dominated by apathy.

And it just so happened that on one particular day in November, Junpei had fallen asleep during seventh period. As the sun set and students began to disperse, he remain snoring away at his desk.

"Nrrkk... nonstop... climax..."

The sound of bells chiming - followed by the P.A. telling students to go home - suddenly jolted him awake. Still seated, he looked around the emptied classroom and groaned.

"Ugh... shit."

With a yawn and a few more curses under his breath, Junpei fixed his baseball cap, lazily grabbed onto his backpack, and began shuffling out of classroom 1-C. The school had all but completely emptied, with only a few students still wrapping up club activities. Junpei wasn't a member of any clubs, though he might've considered joining an anime or video game club. Gekkoukan didn't seem to be that kind of school, sadly. At least the dress code was surprisingly lax. Even the otherwise completely perfect Akihiko didn't wear anything even remotely resembling the actual school uniform.

With that thought, Junpei came to a halt in front of the shoe lockers.

There he was.

His slightly wet silver hair glistened in the afternoon sun, the orange hues just barely masking his lightly flushed skin. His white shirt, not buttoned up all the way, subtly clung to his toned arms. Had he just gotten out of the shower? He must've had practice today, so it made sense. He wiped his brow - not wearing his black leather gloves for once - and sighed softly before retrieving his loafers from the locker.

Junpei shook his head. It wasn't exactly like him to get this starstruck over his upperclassmen. At the end of the day, Akihiko's just a guy like any other, no big deal. He could probably even strike up a conversation out of nowhere if he wanted to. Worst case scenario, he'd choke on oxygen and die.

"Hey, er... Practice over, huh?" Junpei managed to squeeze out something resembling a sentence, hopefully just loud enough for the older boy to hear. He shuffled over to his own shoe locker as to not seem like he was ambushing the guy.

"Yeah. I stayed behind a little late, though." Akihiko looked over at Junpei, an effortlessly charming smile on his face. "Have we met, or...?"

"Oh, uh, no. Sorry. I'm Iori, a first year."

"Akihiko Sanada, nice to meet you."

 _Yeah, I know_... is what Junpei wanted to say. But it wouldn't hurt to tone down the bitch when he's being given the time of day at all.

"You're captain of the boxing team, right? Is it fun?" Junpei blurted out whatever came to mind first, anything to keep the conversation going. "I've only watched it, myself, but I've been thinking about giving it a shot someday. Really build that upper body strength."

He was lying, of course.

"Yeah, boxing's a great way to get in shape," a very unexpectedly sincere answer. "You should come and observe our club activities sometime and see if it's anything for you."

"Sure, I'll try to do that soon..." Junpei couldn't help but be a bit enthralled by Akihiko again. There was a radiance to him when he talked about things he loved, one he'd never seen before.

"Anyway, I gotta run. I'll see you later, Iori!" Akihiko disappeared through the school's front gates with a smile and a wave, leaving Junpei alone with his thoughts.

He just had a perfectly normal - if brief - conversation with Akihiko Sanada, and he survived. He couldn't help but smile to himself as he slid into his sneakers and went on his merry way. The chilly season seemed to be coming unusually late this year.

* * *

The next morning, Junpei actually showed up to school on time. Just outside the humongous Gekkoukan building, he spotted a glimmer of pink in an ocean of black blazers. It was his sworn duty to always give Yukari Takeba a hard time whenever he saw her, but this time he happened to have a reason to.

"Heeeeey, Yuka-tan!"

"Stop calling me that. What do you want?" Her grumpiness was palpable. The mere sight of him was all it took to instantly sour Yukari's mood.

"Ouch, don't be shooting me down just yet! I was just gonna ask you a question." Junpei's semi-pure intentions were masked by his impressively creepy smile.

"Then spit it out already. I'm kinda busy right now."

"Well, uh, you live in the same dorm as Akihiko Sanada, right?"

"...Yeah, I do. What about it?"

"I guess I'm just kinda curious about what kinda person he is? If you got any juicy gossip, I'm all ears!"

"Really? You?" Yukari looked puzzled. "I gotta say, I actually wasn't expecting that one. Sorry, though. We don't talk to each other much."

"Ah, well." Junpei stretched his arms out, only slightly disappointed. "It's cool, don't worry about it."

"Although, now that I think about it..."

"Hm?"

"I dunno how accurate this is, but I've heard that he's never had a girlfriend, like, ever. People thought he was going out with Mitsuru Kirijo for a while, since they're basically always together, but no one's ever seen them do anything that isn't really boring. With how many stalkers those two have, it can't not be true."

Junpei only nodded.

"Well, do whatever you want with that information. Just don't get me involved. I gotta go take care of stuff for the archery club."

The two split ways, only to reunite in their classroom as first period began. Junpei managed to stay awake throughout the whole day, but he didn't absorb a single thing from any of the classes. There was something on his mind, and it wasn't classic literature or English.

It's not that he was looking forward to seeing Akihiko in action or anything. And he didn't have much interest in boxing, either. The boxing team's room just so happened to not be _too_ far out of the way to the front gates, so he might as well drop by, right?

It wasn't to be, though. He made sure to arrive decently early - just because he had nothing better to do, of course - but a huge pack of girls had already assembled in front of the room. There was no way he was getting in there.

In this situation, all someone like him could do was sigh, shrug, and split. Why was he so interested in the first place? Whatever the reason, it was probably never worth the trouble to begin with. Chances are that upperclassman he looked up to for whatever reason already forgot his name, or that they even met.

With that mentality, Junpei Iori's first year of high school ended much like how it began. Going through the motions, impacting nothing and impacted by nothing.

It would also mark the end of his ordinary life for good.


	2. Potential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junpei experiences the Dark Hour for the first time.

* * *

**2009**

* * *

 

It all seemed to go off the rails as soon as that weird guy transferred into Gekkoukan High in April. Just looking at him, Junpei could tell he wasn't exactly normal. And if Junpei was slacking through high school, the new guy was practically a zombie. And yet, despite sleeping through damn near every lecture, his grades were mysteriously stellar. Maybe he wasn't really sleeping, but rather telepathically extracting information from the teachers' minds, was one theory Junpei had come up with. That, or he was a robot.

Weirder still, he'd taken an extended leave of absence just after showing up the first two or three days. All Junpei managed to get out of Yukari was that he ended up in the hospital. He just suddenly collapsed, apparently. It couldn't have been from overwork, the guy never did anything.

A few days before that guy got up off his lazy ass and started coming back to school, Junpei started hearing voices.

It was only the wind, he told himself. Those words he could sometimes vaguely make out were just a coincidence. This is what he believed until the exact same thing happened the night after that. And the night after that. And the night after that. If anything, the sounds got louder and the voices became clearer.

Then, sometime after 11pm on April 18th, everything changed.

"...Shut up."

Junpei clutched his head, his eyes shut and teeth gnashing.

"Shut up!"

He could no longer tell what the voices were saying. They all bled together into one, deafening, soul-piercing noise.

"SHUT UP!"

The voices stopped, though only for an instant. The whispers began to creep in again.

"Fuck this."

He got out of bed, threw on his jacket and stormed outside, slamming the door behind him. In the back of his mind, he hoped he'd woken up his father with that.

Iwatodai's nightlife wasn't particularly attractive around Junpei's neighborhood. High school students would often sneak out to hang out with the more unsavory types. Best case scenario, they'd only end up scammed out of their money. Whatever, just another thing Junpei had no interest in getting involved with.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The breezy spring air had cleared his mind a bit, though he still couldn't shake the feeling of agitation and unease. Out of habit, he walked over to the nearest convenience store. He didn't really want anything, but maybe getting something unhealthy into his system would take the edge off a bit.

_23:54_

Junpei glanced at his phone just before entering the store. He thought it would've have been long past midnight with how long he'd been wallowing in misery back home.

"Welcome!"

The cashier's cheery voice, belonging to a girl who seemed only a couple years older, blended in with the rest of the background noise coming from the store's radio. Junpei absentmindedly grabbed a basket and began shoving random drinks and snacks into it. He then lurched over to the register and the girl began scanning in his things.

"That'll be 2348 y—"

* * *

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In an instant, the place went dead silent. The in-store radio fizzled out and the fluorescent lights died.

Standing in front of Junpei was an eerily glowing coffin.

He broke into a cold sweat. It was as if the world had suddenly ended all around him.

"Wh..."

He took a step back.

"What the..."

Rather than a person, his back collided with what seemed to be a solid object. He slowly turned around, only to be faced with another coffin. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Junpei was completely frozen, unable to move at all. Until...

"Nrggh!"

The voices returned, this time louder than ever. Rather than just in his head, they now seemed to be all around him. He tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground, clutching his head.

"STOP IT!"

This seemed like the end. Tears welled up in Junpei's eyes.

"GO AWAY!"

Writhing helplessly on the ground, all Junpei Iori could do was sob. He didn't know what was happening to him, but he knew he'd rather die than have to go through another minute of it.

He couldn't hear his own cries over the cacophony of screams from all around him. Thousands of indistinct voices, all trying to get at him.

_Hey!_

But one of them seemed remarkably clear.

_Iori? Are you okay!?_

And it knew his name.

"Iori!"

Junpei felt something grab a hold of his shoulder. He let out a bloodcurdling shriek and instinctively slapped it away.

He looked up. His vision was blurred, but he could definitely see someone kneeling right in front of him.

"Please..." He said weakly. "Just kill me already..."

"Iori, it's okay! You're safe!" The voice sounded unnerved by Junpei's words for some reason. Actually, it sounded really familiar as well.

"You..." Junpei rubbed his wet, reddened eyes and squinted. The blob-esque figure started morphing into a very human-like shape. One colour that stood out in the dull, green-hued aisle was red. A bright, vivid red. And above it, silver.

"S-Sanada...?" The voiced started fading from Junpei's head, his mind gradually clearing up.

"Are you hurt? Can you stand?" Akihiko reached his hand out to Junpei. He looked shaken up, a stark contrast to his usual cool demeanor. He was wearing his regular school outfit, but with a peculiar red armband around his left arm. What did it say? 'SEE'? See what? No, wait. That's 'SEES'. What did that mean?

"Y-yeah..." Junpei sniffled.

He stumbled as Akihiko helped him get up, ending up caught by the older boy's arms.

"Oof! Easy..." Akihiko smiled wryly. "Come on, let's get you out here."

"Wh... what's..."

"I'll explain it to you later. I'll walk you home, alright?"

Home...

That's not exactly where Junpei wanted to be right now.

"I'm fine, really..." Junpei took a step back. "Can you just tell me what the hell's going on?"

"...Alright. I don't know how much of this you'll believe right now, but here goes." Akihiko sighed. "You've lapsed into a hidden hour, the Dark Hour, between each day where the human world stops functioning altogether and creatures called Shadows roam around and devour people's minds."

...

Junpei's fear melted away, a nonplussed annoyance taking its place. What kind of chuunibyou bullshit was _that_? Of all people, he never expected Akihiko to be that type.

"...You're delusional."

"See, I knew you'd react that way because it doesn't make any sense." Akihiko sighed. "But look around you. This isn't exactly normal, is it?"

Junpei scanned the darkened convenience store. Everything was a sickening shade of green, a blood-like substance covered the floor, and then there were...

"These coffins..."

"They're people."

"What!?"

"This is what happens to ordinary people during the Dark Hour. Most of them are sleeping inside these coffins, and they'll wake up in an hour and go on with their day as if nothing happened. The only people who can even observe this time are ones pulled in by the Shadows, or those with the Potential."

Junpei caught maybe half of what Akihiko said. This was starting to seem more and more like some low-budget RPG jargon.

"You seem to be adjusting pretty well, so it's probably a safe bet to say that you have the Potential."

"The... Potential? Potential for what?"

* * *

 

The next day, Junpei moved into Iwatodai Dorm and joined the Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad, or 'SEES'. His classmates, Yukari Takeba and the transfer student, both happened to be members of this strange task force, led by the commandeering Mitsuru Kirijo. They all had one thing in common — the power of Persona.

Though he'd always try to fade into the background at school, Junpei had a very easy time making friends with the team. Even the frosty Yukari ended up warming up to him eventually.

Living with Akihiko would definitely prove to be an interesting experience, though. He'd let his guard down every so often, his cool facade cracking along with it. It only seemed to make him even more charming, though.

Wait, charming? That's not something you'd say about another guy, right?

Is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up a little longer than expected. The rest of the soft P3 rewrite won't be this detailed, probably.
> 
> Also, isn't it kinda messed up how chill everyone is about the Dark Hour in the game?


End file.
